His sons Michael and Peter, his young grandson Peter III, his daughter-in-law Sandy and his wife Janet all have contributed. So have three of his employees.

Most gave on the same dates - on the Sept. 20 primary and on Oct. 26, two weeks before the general election when Nethercutt unseated House Speaker Tom Foley.

Taggares did not return telephone calls for comment on his contributions. But David Wigen, a longtime Taggares employee, said he and his boss are “very impressed” with Nethercutt’s performance in Congress.

“Pete asked me to contribute, and I did,” Wigen said.

Nethercutt voted in July to cut the EPA’s enforcement budget by 50 percent. That’s the program that investigated Taggares.

There’s no connection between his vote and Taggares’ campaign donations, Nethercutt said.

“He’s a supporter of mine and I know that he got (his problems with EPA) resolved some years ago,” Nethercutt said.

Taggares also has weighed in to fight the EPA’s sole-source aquifer proposal for Eastern Washington.

Nethercutt wrote President Clinton in February, asking him to eliminate the aquifer plan.

The freshman congressman also told EPA to postpone its decision on the 14,000-square-mile aquifer until scientists can determine whether it’s actually one connected water system.

Washington state officials and dozens of small Eastern Washington towns also oppose the designation.

The aquifer foes came to him for help, Nethercutt said.

“I’m inclined to agree with them, but I want this to be a decision based on science,” Nethercutt said.